FLASHBACK artwork Copyright 2009 Jean Burman
Sheesh… and I thought I was pushing stuff uphill at the end of 2007! (((chuckles)))
I’m off to Brisbane today to pick up some art supplies. I boxed up much of it when I was home a week or so ago and posted the boxes down to myself here on the Coast… but somehow left behind my large portfolio with a whole (unopened) bag of new paper in it. I had excess baggage anyway… so maybe leaving it behind was a good thing. And I can always get it next time.
Meantime though… I’m chaffing at the bit to get paint to paper. Hence the trip to Brisbane. I can’t wait to browse the aisles of Eckersleys to see what I will find. I love art supply shops. They all have the same smell no matter where in the world you go! It’s a peculiar combination of paint paper clay glue… I don’t know what… but it never fails to spark the flame of inspiration in me.
I knew a guy once who (along with his beautiful wife) owned an art shop. He ran classes occassionally in the loft above the store. He was a big man with a beard and a somewhat gruff personality (if you didn’t know him better). He scared the begeezes out of me for a long time… but then as time went on and I visited the shop and took a few classes… I seemed to catch his drift.
He was passionate about art. Moreover he was passionate about his materials. I remember his thunderous voice on one such occasion loudly booming…
“you’ve got to be in LOVE with your materials”
He punctuated the statement with a ferocious wave of his fist at the back wall where art hung as a glorious exemplary metaphor. I thought he was nuts.
At the time I was only in love with the wafty idea of the subject floating vicariously around in my head… so I didn’t really get it. I thought the paint and the paper or canvas… the clay… or whatever… was just a means to an end.
But no… after all these years… and now that big John has gone to that big art studio in the sky… I do finally get it. I love the stuff that makes it happen!
I do I do I do!
I love the brushes for the varying marks they make… each with their own unique personality. I love the paper which, depending on brand, shape or size gives me a totally different mood and feel. I love the paint as it flows across the paper and settles into crevices along it’s path… creating new and unexpected nuances I could never have ever imagined in the first place.
I love the feel of it. The “doing” of it.
Yes… I love my “stuff”. And I can’t wait to get my hands on it!
After that… maybe a leisurely lunch somewhere… and then on to the Queensland Art Gallery to see what’s new on the exhibition circuit. You might remember my report on Picasso back in August last year which ignited so much new found passion for Modigliani!
Well… watch out here I go again. And depending on whose work is showing… this time they may have to tie me down… (or not!) We’ll see.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
So glad to have you back posting again, and to hear that you are happy and positive. You deserve that, Jean! Along with art supply stores (Blick is five minutes away from my house) I love book stores and cookware stores. — John
Blick just 5 minutes away? John I am sooo envious! I love kitchenware stores too… in fact I have my eye on a really neat “mini” cupcake tray which holds 50. And book stores too? Another pleasurable olfactory experience! LOL
Thanks so much for the lovely encouragement John!
Aaahhhh Jean! Now that I have met you, I can truley picture you almost salivating at the thought of producing what is in your head..through your heart and hands! Well done! I understand what Big John was saying. When I step out into my studio (which I adore!!) I have a sense of leaving. A sense of entering as well. Then as I cast my eye around my paints and brushes, that whole feeling of getting lost in ones own essence is so tantalising and sooooo seductive, I cannot resist and I never fail to conjur what is inside. Someone once said to me that you should never write about something you know nothing about. I think the same advice holds true to any creative endeavour. Flowers and scenery have always been my “chalice”, but I have realised through past events and where those events left me…that faces are also something that I know. I have just completed two portraits of my girls and the experience of reproducing their faces made me fall in love with them all over again. It was almost like I could touch them and hold them as I painted them…such an amazing effect that painting them bestowed upon me. I instantly knew which brush to use and where to place that brush to get a particular line just where I wanted it. I kind of sketch with the brushes anyway (all of my paintings are done in such a way..what ever I end up with is always my first and only attempt…I do not know if that is a good thing or not!), with the flowers that is quite easy as the edges of petals and leaves is never predetermined anyway, but to try that with a portrait takes immense confidence and a true knowing of the subject. I am keen to see if I can push myself even further and try another persons face, perhaps even one that I do not know…leaving me in a postion of really knowing myself!
Jools… your new portraiture work is amazing!
Subject… and more so the personal response to it… has always been my reason for putting paint to paper (or canvas). Attempting to capture whatever it was that caught my eye and my heart in the first place.
The things that made it all possible… the means to the end… the paint the paper the canvas never really entered my head. I remember I loved the smell of my first wooden easel! LOL And at first I did notice that when I used a certain brush I could be assured of getting the right result first time… but it took a while for the penny to drop that the better my materials… and the more “in love” with them that I was… the better the result would be.
I reckon for the best results all the elements should be in concert. St. Francis of Assisi once said… “He who works with his hands is a labourer… he who works with his head and his hands is a craftsman… he who works with his head and his hands and his heart is an artist” He doesn’t mention materials… but I guess they didn’t have the allure of the well stocked art store back in his time! LOL
No Jean..mores the pity!
Your story about your easel has meade me think of my easel. A friend made it about 10 yrs ago…for my mother!!! She kept in the shed as it was too big for her. But when I started painting, she offered it to me! I have wondered that the easel was always meant for me anyway!
Jean, how right you are!–Our materials and tools are so much more than a means to an end. I love the smells and feel of each of mine. I am so lucky to have a little studio in our home where projects can be worked on and developed at my own pace, whatever that might be at the given time. To some it might be just a converted garage, but It is possibly the most personal space in our home, filled with paints, brushes, papers, pens and pencils, as well as books each selected carefully over time.. My grandchildren love the space too, and I enjoy sharing it with them.
Having a space to call your own as an artist is so wonderful! It doesn’t matter what shape or form that space comes in… we creative souls have a knack of bringing warmth and atmosphere to any space we inhabit! Your converted room sounds perfect Anita! I don’t have a lot of room to work in here… but it’s an efficient space and I’m going to give it my best shot. And who knows what impact my different surroundings will have upon my art making. Many of the greats worked way out of their comfort zone… maybe that’s how they got great? Who knows.
As you know Jean–Greatness comes from within.
That too Anita… that too! (although a little extra elbow room never goes astray) LOL